San Diego Studio
2690 Historic Decatur Rd Ste. 104
San Diego, CA 92106
Arts District/Liberty Station
Barracks 19
San Diego Studio
2690 Historic Decatur Rd Ste. 104
San Diego, CA 92106
Arts District/Liberty Station
Barracks 19
Weston Riffle is a native Californian born in La Mesa in 1970 and grew up in Ramona, CA. He received his Bachelors degree from San Diego State in 1993 and Masters from San Jose State in 1996. He is a mostly self-taught painter who describes himself as an anti-artist. His painting portrays the beauty and culture of California, specifically the southern and agricultural regions.
“I wish to express simple purity in desire, action, and hope, of the people and places I have known. The general theme is the struggle of the individual against forces not clearly understood. Form, composition, and color develop around the individual or situation I attempt to resolve, or portray with each painting. Usually complex beginnings end in simple composition. A fatalistic view seems to be the result.”
Riffle’s paintings have been exhibited in solo and group shows throughout California including, the National Steinbeck Museum in Salinas, theWilliam D. Cannon Art Gallery, the Oceanside Museum of Art and the Gotthelf Gallery in La Jolla.
Riffle resides in San Diego and in Idyllwild CA.
For a studio visit at either location: email-contact@fatsip.com
Browse gallery by category
Gallery Representation
Fresh Paint Gallery-1020 Prospect St. La Jolla CA
Golden Pine Gallery- 54750 N. Circle Dr Idyllwild CA
Proudly featuring on Find the Artist’s Top 50 San Diego Artists
Poppi- the Balloon Eating clown
Poppi is an internationally recognized member of the “New Atlas Clown School.” A secret society of clowns driven to spread peace and altruism. Poppi is the first and only member chosen to reveal his membership.
Poppi isn’t limited to performances. Poppi has exposed himself in books including: Daddy you can let go now, All these Chickens, and Three Sarahs and a Bushel of Corn.
Poppi won’t reveal his secrets but will reveal yours. Fear clowns? So does Poppi. Poppi fears jugglers, face painters, magicians, hypnotists, doctors, bureaucrats, modern dancers, raw salmon, asphalt and German cars. Poppi doesn’t fear you. Give Poppi a chance to touch that part of you that hasn’t been touched in a while. Poppi knows where it hurts.
Poppi will be your brother opening the back door of Mark Johanson’s van, not quite what you wanted but something you needed.
Don’t worry, Poppi is there for you.
Selected Exhibitions
2024
Gateway Gallery-Ocotillo CA September-January 2025
Golden Pine Gallery Idyllwild CA
2023
Idyllwild Open Studios- July 8, 2023 10-4pm
CIVIC CENTER GALLERY- Encinitas City Hall-April-July
505 S. Vulcan Avenue, Encinitas, CA 92024- solo show
Artscape Fall/Winter 2022-2023 Riverside Arts Council -Riverside County Administration Building 4080 Lemon Street
Golden Pine Gallery Idyllwild CA
2022
Borrego Art Institute- October 2022 solo show
Poway Center for Performing Arts 15498 Espola Road Poway -The sweat and the panic April-June -solo show
Borrego Art Institute-group show
Golden Pine Gallery
2021
William D Cannon Art Gallery- Carlsbad CA Juried Biennial Exhibition- June 21-August 7, 2021 Jurors: Sonya Sparks-Sparks Gallery & Andrew Utt, Executive Director of Lux Art Institute in Encinitas
Golden Pine Gallery- 54750 N Circle Dr. Idyllwild CA 6/2020-ongoing
Borrego Art Institute -665 Palm Canyon Dr. 5/2021-October
Art Alliance of Idyllwild Gallery-26364 Saunders Meadow Road, Idyllwild CA
2020
Blind Insect Gallery- 2841 NE Alberta St Portland Oregon 12/2020-1/2021 -Bye 2020
Fresh Paint Gallery -1020 Prospect St La Jolla 2020 January-March
2019
Poway Center for Performing Arts 15498 Espola Road Poway“Straight Tank Swallow” Two decades of triumphs and yields in the desert. A retrospective of paintings of people that work to live in California. Solo show
Fresh Paint Gallery -1020 Prospect St La Jolla Reception 1/25/19 6-8pm
2017 winner in celebration of La Victoria’s 100th anniversary.Five San Diego artists were chosen as finalists in the art competition and $10,000 was distributed among the top three winners.Weston Riffle took third place in the competition.
2014 Georgina Cole Library, Carlsbad CA solo show
2013 Las Laguna Gallery- Small Works- Big Talent Laguna Beach
2013-38th Annual Small Image Show-Gallery 21 Juror: Karen McGuire, Curator of Exhibitions for the City of Carlsbad's William D. Cannon Art Gallery
2012-Poway Center for Performing Arts- Juror: Pat Kelly
2010 -Cover Artist forVision Magazine
2009 -In the Hands of the People: Cesar Chavez ArtSpace Cross Cultural Center@ UCSD
2008- San Diego Museum of Art Artist Guild Fine Art Festival V
2007-William D. Cannon Art GalleryJuror: Elizabeth Armstrong, Deputy Director for Programs and Chief Curator at the Orange County Museum of Art
2006-National Steinbeck Center,"My California Views: From the Golden State" Salinas, CA.juror: Dr. Emily Sano, Director of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
2005-Oceanside Museum of Art,OMA Regional 4jurors: Mary Beebe, Director, The Stuart Collection, University of California, San Diego; Derrick Cartwright, Director, San Diego Museum of Art; and Arthur Ollman, Director, Museum of Photographic Arts
2005-San Diego Art Institute,Southern California Regional Juried Exhibition,Balboa ParkJuror: Osvaldo Sanchez: Director Museum of Modern Art, New York
2005 Bard Hall Gallery, 4190 Front Street, San Diego
2004 Bird Rock Gallery, La Jolla, CA
2005 Boehm Gallery, Palomar College, San Marcos.Juror: Maxine Gaiber Exectutive Director: Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts
2005 4 Design GallerySan Diego, CA. solo show
2005- Gotthelf Art GalleryLa Jolla, CA92037 "The Golem" invitational exhibition
2004-COVA Open Studios; San Diego
2004-San Diego Hospice San Diego, CA
2004 Escondido Municipal Gallery, "Small Images" Escondido, CA.juror: Martha Matthews
2004 Escondido Municipal Gallery, "Getting There" Escondido, CA. Juror:Rachel Teagle: Curator and Co-Department Head at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
2004- Cover artist ArtWalk Magazine
2004- National Steinbeck Center, "Images of California Agriculture"; 3/04-5/04, Salinas, CA.juror :Karen Tsujimoto, Senior Curator of Art for Oakland Museum of California
2004-Escondido Municipal Gallery, "Summation"; Escondido, CA juror: G. Pasha Turley:Professor of Art/Gallery Director,Southwestern College
2003- San Diego County Administration Center San Diego, CA
2003- B A E Local Artists Gallery San Diego CA
2003-Escondido Municipal Gallery, "Art Riot" Escondido, CA.juror: Debby and Larry Kline
2003-Poway Performing Arts Center Poway Art Exhibit juror: Virginia Mathews and Ardel Bloomquist
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Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022 Poway Center for Performing Arts
2022 Borrego Art Institute
2019Poway Center for Performing Arts
2012 Bread and Cie
2012-Gallery 4311
2014 Georgia Cole Library
2012- OB Peoples
2007 Lafayette Hotel San Diego, CA
2007 San Carlos Public Library San Diego, CA
2005 Condo Gallery San Diego, CA
2005 4 Design Gallery San Diego, CA
2004 ArtWalk GallerySan Diego, CA
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GalleryRepresentation
Fresh Paint Gallery-La Jolla 2018-ongoing
Golden Pine Gallery-Idyllwild CA 2020-ongoing
Bird Rock Gallery-La Jolla CA 2004-2005
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ASSOCIATIONS
Member studio artist : San Diego Spanish Village Art Center
Member: Art Alliance of Idyllwild
San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild
University Heights Arts Association
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Education
BA San Diego State 1993
MA San Jose State 1996
Miscellaneous/Awards:
1st place Here and Now show-Art Alliance of Idyllwild AAI Gallery 4/2022
Cover Artist forVision MagazineJan. 2010
2004 - 1st place Escondido Municipal Gallery, "Getting There”Juror: Rachel Teagle
2003-Best of Show award, Poway Center for Performing Arts
2003 Featured Artist for SanDiegoArtist.com
2004 Cover artist for '04 ArtWalk poster
2005 Completed large scale mural with students for Birney Elementary’s 75th anniversary
2005 Building mural for American Market
2005 Art Instructor at Birney Elementary San Diego, CA
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Bibliography
Schwab, Dave “ Artist Weston Riffle open new studio in Arts District Liberty Station” SD News August 8, 2024
Brandt, Angela "Anti-Artist opens solo show” San Diego Union-Tribune March 30, 2022
Alfaro, Elaine“Del Cerro artist’s upcoming exhibit shares local history and culture” SD News April 6, 2022
Morse, E.R.,The Renascent, Painting Vol 1 2005
Board, Josh, ‘Crasher’ (June, 02, 2005) San Diego Reader
National Steinbeck Center News Winter 2007
Cannons Art Gallery’s Resource Guide 3 part education program for 2006-07
Mission Times Courier 2017
Fark, Bill ‘New Escondido Studios Highlight Summer Art Scene’ North County Times, June16, 2004
Johnston, Ron ‘New Art in UH” August 2005 University Heights News
San Diego Citybeat Red List 2011
Visionary Artist- Vision Magazine, January issue 2010
Westlin, Martin Jones, “To live and Serve: Exploring Golem” (April, 4, 2005) Golden Triangle News
Proudly featuring on Find the Artist’s Top 50 San Diego Artists
Lorem
Poway Center for the Performing Arts 2022 "The Sweat and the Panic" -solo show
Borrego Art Institute 2022 -The Philosophy of water-solo show
Poway Center for the Performing Arts 2019 “Straight Tank swallow
-solo show
SAn Diego UT 2022
Artwalk magazine cover and poster artist for San Diego Artwalk
BIO
Weston Riffle is a native Californian born in La Mesa in 1970. He received his Bachelor's degree from San Diego State in 1993 and Masters from San Jose State in 1996. He is a mostly self-taught painter who describes himself as an anti-artist. His painting portrays the beauty and culture of California, specifically the southern and agricultural regions. “I wish to express simple purity in desire, action, and hope, of the people and places I have known. Overall, themes, images and concepts reflect real and imagined memories of my experience growing up a rural Californian, traveling through the Central Valley, stories of prior generations and growing old myself. The general theme is the struggle of the individual against forces not clearly understood. Form, composition, and color develop around the individual or situation I attempt to resolve, or portray with each painting. Usually complex beginnings end in simple composition. A fatalistic view seems to be the result.”
“I paint to avoid the gray. Like a song or a scent that awakens something. When I paint I pay attention. Sometimes things I stopped seeing reappear and I am a fifteen year old again trying to find god, meaning and purpose; and thinking there is such a thing.”
Riffle’s paintings have been exhibited in solo and group shows and permanent collections throughout California including, the National Steinbeck Museum in Salinas, the William D. Cannon Art Gallery, the Oceanside Museum of Art, Gotthelf Gallery in La Jolla
"In style and subject matter Weston Riffle's work brings to mind the social realism movement that had its heyday in America and Mexico between the two world wars-a realism that both celebrated working people and critiqued the socio-economic and political forces that create inequality. At first glance, the brilliantly colored paintings of farm workers and fishermen seem to be simply celebrations of California rural life- and they certainly are that -until we notice the hidden faces and the repetition of identical figures. It is as if the farm workers in their anonymity are just so many interchangeable parts in a larger machine. Or perhaps the repetitive nature of their back-breaking work has rubbed the individuality out of them. The political makes itself known through the personal."
Deborah M. Williams-Fresh Paint Gallery-La Jolla CA
all images and content copyright ©1999-2024 weston riffle
